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Saturday, August 1, 2009

Rocky had the right moves

We've all seen the Rocky movies. At last count there are actually 6 of them. With the exception of V which was a disaster they all have a good theme, hot action, and some kick ass training sequences. Can you hear "Eye of the Tiger" in your ear now? Risen' up, back on the street...

I digress.

All the movies show Rocky training in some amazing and inspirational training sequences set to music that makes me want to go for a run or something. Do you recall, like I clearly recall, that he does some bizarre stuff. In II he chased chickens around a pen. In III he was in the pool and sprinting on the beach. (Remember him pulling Paulie into the water. Funny crap. How about the super slow mo with the short shorts. OK, that's the cheesy 80's coming out) Of course his eggs Rocky style and early morning runs through Philly are the stuff of legend. None of this even comes close to the action in Rocky IV in the Siberian wilderness.

Can you get into the way back machine with me and remember the last of the many times you saw Rocky IV. Rocky and Drago are getting ready for the big fight. Drago has access to the best training methods that money and now defunct communist government can muster. You know things like an indoor track, a punching bad that measures your punching strength, and the leg extension. Rocky doesn't stand a chance. The leg extension mimics boxing SOOO closely.

Meanwhile, back on the farm Rocky's running up mountains, chopping wood and lifting up carts with his trainers on it. Just thinking of this makes me want to chop some wood and run up some mountains.

We all know the result of the fight on Christmas day. Rocky wins over the hostile Russians yada, yada, yada. The ending was almost anticlimactic for me. The music and the training montage was what drove my tractor.

At the end of the day there is a massive message in the Rocky movies.

It's not good over evil. It's not the underdog thing.

For me it's man over machine. It's the fact that the human body needs to move and train functionally to perform functionally. Certainly this works for boxers but it works for the rest of us as well. Push-ups are better than bench press, pull-ups are better than lat pull-down, running is better than the leg extension and lunge walks and better than weighted squats.

If we want our bodies to function properly than we need to train it in a functional manner.

95% of the people at the gyms get this wrong. You all need to watch Rocky IV again and get off the couch, crack some eggs, and master the one armed push-up. I'm sure a Rocky movie will come on TNT within the next month.